Sweat Journal

Some guys go to the gym, others turn their surroundings into one!

The latter of the two is the case for Barstarzz founder Edward Checo, also known as the man responsible for revolutionizing the health and wellness community with his street sweeping fitness movement. Checo started Barstarzz as a means of teaching people how to be fit using their body and creative environment. “We inspire and teach people to use their body weight as their exercise machine. We have been making regular internet content for this purpose since 2008,” he said in an interview.

After being featured in publications such as Mens health, Mens Fitness, and The New York Post as the experts in the field of bar-styled fitness, Checo has made Barstarzz a favorite fitness solution for men all over the world. Relying solely on calisthenics for a natural flow exercise, Barstarzz techniques are intended to increase body strength, fitness, and flexibility through movements such as pulling or pushing oneself up, bending, jumping, or swinging, using only one’s body weight for resistance.

Checo’s personal calisthenics journey started when he was only 10 years old. “I wanted to be like my older brother who was huge from doing a lot of push-ups at home,” he said. “Actually, both of my brothers at the time were really into working out. They would subscribe to all the fitness magazines and they even had a bench press in the house.”

As a kid, the only thing he felt comfortable with was push ups. He didn’t think he was strong enough to do anything else, but based on his muscular build now, he was obviously wrong! Back then, young Edward would crack out push up after push up aspiring to be like his older brothers. “Into my teen years is when I really learned about pull ups. I was so obsessed, I would even do them in my closet on the clothes rack! I was a really small kid and always the shortest in class. Working out made me feel more secure at a time where self confidence was so prevalent,” he says.

Barstarzz is all about teaching you to master your body with no limits.

Despite the popular gym-bias, you can get big, strong, and agile with nothing else but your body! Running with the Barstarzz is completely opposite of carrying a gym-membership, since Checo wants to inspire people to get moving without having limitations on your creativity to workout. He’s seen people learn brand new skills by teaching them to fall in love with fitness, which, if you ask him, is the best part of his job. “It’s hard to workout if you look at it like a chore,” he says, “but when you love it, you love it! We integrate learning skills with your fitness goals to get you excited for each session.”

Barstarzz just released a new workout program out called “Barstarzz BTX,” which tells you exactly what you need to do day by day. With bonus motivational videos, challenges, diet information, and an exercise library, there’s always something for you to reference that’s bound to get you moving! According to the main barstar himself, this particular program was developed to give people a medium of losing fat while gaining muscle and learning new skills. Plus, it comes with a money back guarantee! What could beat that?

Ending our chat, Checo shared endless transformation stories; from people who’ve packed on tons of muscle from calisthenics to people who’ve successfully lost weight from going through the motions. “Naming my favorite success story would be too hard, since I have so many of them! I think my favorite part in general is the success of the culture. We were able to push a whole generation of people to be more aware of their bodies,” he said.

If you want to see what being a part of the Barstarzz team is really about, check out this transformation of Checo’s 3-year client first. Once you’re done obsessing over his results, head over to the Barstarzz site to get your gear and find a park near you!